What Does GM's LT1 V-8 Power Announcement Mean for Trucks?

New Corvette Engine Paves Path for Class-Leading Half-Ton Power

Elsewhere in the automotive world earlier this week, the big news was the official confirmation of the rumors of power figures for the C7 Corvette Stingray's new LT1 direct-injected 6.2-liter V-8 engine, at 455 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque, and 5 more of each respectively with the performance exhaust system.

Although these figures are not an earth-shattering gain over the outgoing LS3 port-injected engine, combined with the C7 Corvette's lighter weight and available new seven-speed manual transmission, in addition to the first application of cylinder-deactivation in a Corvette, the new model promises to have the best fuel economy and performance of any base-model Corvette in history.

As has been the case since at least 1997, the Corvette has often previewed engine technologies and features that have later trickled down to full-size trucks. The LT1 is no different. General Motors has already announced that a 6.2-liter engine will be offered in top-trim 2014 Silverado and Sierra half-ton models. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that engine will share the majority of its hardware with the LT1.

The only question of how similar the truck 6.2 will be to the LT1 is just a question of percentage. Bore and stroke and, reportedly, even compression ratio (at 11.5:1) will be shared with the LT1. Likely changes will be in the intake manifold design, optimized for low-end torque delivery, cam profile and timing, and engine control tuning. Regardless of the specific changes for truck duty, as of now, it looks as if the new direct-injected 6.2 will be horsepower and torque king in the half-ton class.

GM fanboys might claim the General already has that title with the current 6.2, but closer inspection gives Ford a slight edge with its 6.2-liter SOHC V-8 offered in the Raptor and other F-150 models with 411 hp and 434 lb-ft of torque. GM's new DI promises to top those figures by a substantial margin, as well as improving on the Ford 6.2's rather dismal fuel economy of 11 city and 16 highway, as installed in the Raptor, and a not-much-better 13 city and 18 highway in 2WD F-150s with the engine.

Like the C7, the new GM half-ton trucks launched with a six-speed automatic, and it's believed the 6.2 will likewise initially be offered exclusively with a six-speed. An eight-speed automatic would likely yield another mpg or two in city and highway testing, as well as an incremental improvement in acceleration, not that punch would be lacking with well over 400 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque.

Now that the figures are out for the Corvette, we want to know how close you think the output of the new 6.2-liter V-8 will be in GM's trucks. We've listed several options in our poll below.